Major step forward for northern gateway plan

THE Churchill Way Flyovers were a dominant sight in Liverpool city centre for almost 50 years.

- By LIAM THORP

First opened in 1970, the 240m long behemoths were created as part of an inner city ring road scheme that was later cancelled.

But for a long time the flyovers did connect Lime Street to Dale Street and Tithebarn Street in the city centre, running directly behind the city’s museums and galleries in William Brown Street.

This was until 2019 when they were deemed to be unsafe and Liverpool City Council began the complicated job of pulling them down.

The flyovers were initially shut to the public in September 2018 after construction flaws were discovered, with a detailed inspection finding multiple significant defects that could not be reversed.

The job of pulling them down cost £6.75m and took around three months, with the huge structures dismantled into 25m sections.

That project would go on to become embroiled in one of the most explosive elements of a damning government inspection report into the city council two years later.

It was revealed in Max Caller's report that a key health and safety contract on the demolition project was handed to a company run by the son of then Mayor of Liverpool Joe Anderson.